


Lifelines

by kit_cat



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst and Fluff, Established Relationship, HAPPY HOLIDAYS Y'ALL, Klance Secret Santa 2016, Lance remembers his former life and this causes pain basically, M/M, Reincarnation, also kinda introspective, and also reunions, deadlines are fun i say sarcastically as I cry into my laptop, if you count multiple lifetimes, kinda???
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-25
Updated: 2016-12-25
Packaged: 2018-09-12 00:54:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,176
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9048856
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kit_cat/pseuds/kit_cat
Summary: Lance is born into the world with one soul too many and a head full of memories from a life no longer his own.





	

**Author's Note:**

> For the Klance Secret Santa 2016.  
> This is for askladarmin who requested "literally anything."  
> You'd think "literally anything" would be easy to write but this somehow ended up being a shit load harder then I expected. Also so like I know they didn't want major character death and this doesn't really count for that cause they're all alive right? right...?  
> So strap in for 2,000 words of bullshit and hopefully enjoy the ride!  
> HAPPY HOLIDAYS

            Lance is born into the world with one soul too many and a head full of memories from a life no longer his own. He is a remnant from a life amongst the stars, where magic and science intermingled to create something beautifully powerful. He remembers a life of adventure as equally as he remembers a life of war; a life of happiness weighted equally with one of fear. Blue rests dormant in his soul, her life energy a steady hum that serves as a reminder of who he once was (who he still _is_ ). Because while Lance may have been born into a world not so different from the one he remembers, the universe couldn’t be any more different.

 

            In this new life he grows up yearning for the stars, wishing for the life he once lived. He spends his early years with his gaze locked onto the sky, hands grasping at stars that will always be out of reach. For this life is not like the one he once lived, this world so different from his old one, and he knows that his wishes will never be answered. He grows up looking skyward, but his feet stay firmly planted on the ground, just like he knows they will always stay.

 

            There are nights where he wakes with a start, his lunges desperately sucking in air as adrenaline pumps through his veins. These are the nights that he dreams of battles long past, of fighting a war he was too young to truly understand. He wonders if he should be worried that these dreams make him ache even more for the life he once lived, if there is something wrong in missing the thrill of battle the way he does. His former life was riddled with danger, he knows, and he wonders if maybe he should be worried that he doesn’t remember the ending of his other life’s story. He knows there are gaps in the memories he has of his former life, many of them as natural as the forgotten moments of his current one- But this isn’t just a matter of forgotten moments, and sometimes he wonders if maybe he doesn’t truly want to know the resolution of his other story.

 

            Sometimes it feels like he’s missing pieces of his soul, and he wonders if he’s been doomed to live out this new life as only a fraction of a person. He clutches at the people shaped holes in his very being and misses his friends much the same way he remembers once missing home. But now that he’s here on earth, he finds that home doesn’t quite feel the same as it once did- and maybe that has to do with the differences, no matter how subtle they sometime are, between this world and his last one. He can’t help but feel, however, that it’s due to the people no longer by his side. He misses Coran and his sometimes eccentric- but comforting- personality, Allura and her seemingly endless resolve, Hunk and his sturdy, steady friendship, Pidge and her wit, Shiro and his titties, but most of all he misses Keith. He remembers a time in his past life where the very idea of missing Keith would have made him laugh, but this isn’t that time nor is it that life, and there are mornings he still wakes up expecting a familiar warmth beside him. In the years they spent together in space (living together, fighting together, learning each other) Keith had somewhere along the line made a home for himself in Lance’s heart like no one else had ever done. He misses all of his friends, of course he does, but Keith’s absence aches like an open wound- survivable but painful all the same.

 

            Lance is not completely alone however, for Blue remains a constant presence in his soul; a warmth so integrated into his very being that he sometimes wonders where he begins and she ends. She may not have physical tangibility in this world, but she lives on in him, just as he hopes the rest of the lions live on in their paladins. She’s his constant companion and most trusted confidant, his pillar of strength in the years he spends missing the life and people he once knew.

 

            As he gets older, and his memories of his prior life become clearer, he begins to search for the other Paladins. His search begins on the first day of third grade after he meets Coran for the first (second) time. Coran ends up being his third grade teacher, his eccentricity from his past life mirroring that of his current one. Teachers aren’t supposed to have favorites, Lance knows, but he can’t help but enjoy Coran’s preferential treatment. Coran doesn’t remember his past life however, and the entire year he sends Lance confused glances, as if he’s grasping at memories just out of reach. Even after moving up through the grades, Lance makes a point of coming back to visit Coran year after year. The confused glances only become more confused as he gets older, and Lance tries to tell himself those looks don’t hurt; that he’s okay with not being remembered. Coran give him hope, however, that the others are out there, and that maybe- just maybe- one of them will remember him the way he remembers them.

 

            Meeting Hunk and Pidge is like a balm to his soul, healing pieces of himself that he didn’t even know needed healing. He meets Hunk when he’s twelve, and Pidge when he’s fourteen, and just like Coran, neither of them remember their past lives. Not really, at least. Hunk mentions once that meeting Lance had felt more like a long overdue reunion then a first meeting, and Pidge, on the other hand, mentions reoccurring dreams of flying amongst the stars, of searching for something just always out of reach. Lance finds himself watching Pidge with her family and thinking he finally might understand why Pidge had searched the galaxy for them in the way she had. They might not remember the way he does, but having them once again beside him is like regaining a piece of himself.

 

            Lance meets Shiro through Matt; the same brother Pidge had searched the galaxy for once upon another life. It’s strange to see Shiro once again, sans his scar and splash of white hair but still missing his arm, even if it wasn’t because of the Galra in this life. Lance barely finds the self-restraint to not ask what happened but eventually decides that having Shiro tell him himself will be well worth the curiosity in the end.

           

            Lance catches a glance of Allura on the street just once. She breezes in and out of his current life with all of the majestic grace he remembers her to have had. But just like a shooting star, she’s there one moment and gone the next. He never sees her again past that initial glance; never gets the chance to learn if she remembers. It hurts, but knowing that she is alive- that she _exists_ \- is enough for him in the end. It has to be.

 

            Despite his best efforts he can’t seem to find Keith. Lance knows he’s out their somewhere; it’s just a matter of where. The world is a big place after all, and while he has been lucky enough so far in finding his friends, he shouldn’t have expected them to all be in one place. As the years go by, and Keith remains missing (not missing, Lance tries to tell himself, because how can someone be missing from your life when you’ve never technically met them?) the ache in his soul begins to grow. While he may once again have Coran’s eccentricity, Hunk’s sturdy friendship, Pidge’s wit, Shiro’s titties- and at the very least has proof of Allura’s existence in this life- he continues to remain incomplete without Keith. In his worst moments, where his yearning for the stars and the life he’ll never have back is at it’s greatest, he questions if he’ll ever see him again, if maybe Keith will flit in and out of his life in much the same manner Allura did. There are times where he feels guilty for not being able to be fully grateful for what he already has in this new life. He tries so hard to be satisfied with what he’s been given- what he’s been able to find- but it hurts enough for him to sometimes wish he didn’t remember his past life. It is in one of those moments, where he finds himself wishing he didn’t have to remember a life and a person he no longer has, that Keith finally appears for the first time in this lifetime.

 

            Finding Keith is little more then a happenstance. One moment he’s on a street corner, the light about to turn and the next-

 

            “LANCE!”

 

            The world stops and his breathe catches as Lance recognizes the voice calling out to him. He freezes, and there’s a moment where he can’t quite believe what he’s hearing, before his heart starts pounding in his chest. Lance spins around, hope fluttering dangerously in his chest, and-

 

            Eyes meet.

 

            The world returns to motion and air is pulled shakily into his lungs, because there in front of him is none other than Keith. Keith who is standing their, eyes wide and staring at him like he’s the only person in the world, who _knows his name_ despite this being their first (second, his mind traitorously whispers at him) meeting.

 

            Lance opens his mouth to say something, anything, but finds that he can’t find the words, can’t even form the syllables. He’s been waiting for this moment his entire life, or at least the entirety of this current life. He wants to say something, _needs_ to say something, but finds himself unable to.

 

            Keith looks down at his feet, breaking eye contact for the first time since their encounter began. He looks uncertain, Lance realizes with a start. The Keith of Lance’s memories was many things, but uncertain was rarely one of them. When Keith looks back up, his gaze is nervous and Lance finds his breath catching all over again, though he wouldn’t be surprised if he’d never caught it in the first place.

           

            “Lance?” Keith’s voice is hesitant, an unspoken question, and it’s in that moment that Lance realizes the reason for Keith’s uncertainty. Because Keith remembers him the same way Lance remembers Keith, remembers their former life the way no one else has been able to. Keith remembers him, and is silently asking whether Lance remembers him in turn. And just like that Lance’s breath comes rushing back, and it takes everything he has to hold back his sobs.

 

            “ _Keith_ ,” Lance says like a prayer, his voice watery. Keith seems to slump, his face scrunching up in way that can only indicate he’s trying to hold back tears of his own. And just like that they’re moving, embracing each other for the first time in this lifetime. They cling to each other as if one might disappear if the other doesn’t hold on tight enough. Their breaths come in gasps as they fail to suppress their sobs, faces pressed against each other’s shoulders and necks in sorry attempts to hide from the outside world.

 

            “ _Lance_ ,” Keith breathes into his neck, and Lance can’t stop the shudder that runs through his body. Keith is warm against him and Lance can’t help but melt further into his hold. If Keith notices, he doesn’t say anything, instead just tightening his own hold on Lance, burying his face further into the crook of Lance’s neck. They stay there in each other’s arms, standing on that street corner, for what could have been hours- days even- but was most likely only minutes. When they finally pull away from each other, faces blotchy from crying, Lance can’t help but reach out to entangle his fingers in Keith’s hair. He holds in a snort when he realizes it’s still the same mullet Keith had unashamedly worn back in their former life. Keith seems to lean into the touch, his eyes drooping just a bit as Lance cards his fingers through the hair at his nape. Lance doesn’t even think before he’s leaning down and catching Keith’s lips with his own. The kiss is barely more than a brush of lips on lips, soft and slow and tasting like tears, but it’s the best kiss Lance has had in both this lifetime and the last.

 

            “Thank you,” Lance whispers against Keith’s lips. Keith looks up at him through his lashes, brow furrowed in confusion.

 

            “For what?”

 

            “For remembering me.”

 

            Keith snorts, and for the first time in this life- for the first time in this world- Lance gets to see a smile bloom across his face.

 

            “Like I could ever forget you.”

 

            Lance may always yearn for the stars and a life no longer his own, but in that moment, he feels whole.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading!  
> if you got any questions or if you just want to talk you can contact/find me at lowandco on tumblr  
> Goodbye Y'all!


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